The most important ingredient, and therefore the first ingredient to playing better pool is: Control the mind. All the best fundamentals in the world will never compensate for a wayward or mischievous mind. You can have perfect alignment and know exactly what to do, but if your mind says: “You can’t get this,” you will miss.

The fact is, success of anything begins in the mind. All the world's greatest buildings, art masterpieces, music, books and sporting achievements started with the right mindset. You must learn to see your success in your mind before you can expect to execute it on the physical plane.

The mind is the master of the senses and therefore it controls the physical body. All of us have, at one time, heard of a fantastic story of some person who was told he would never walk again, only for them to defy the doctors and start running marathons! In every example, the person who was able to surmount his/her physical obstacles did so with the help of their mind. They ran that marathon in their mind over and over again. And then one day they executed that vision.

So in pool, we have to see ourselves pocketing balls effortlessly. We have to see ourselves escaping hooks with the greatest skill and confidence. In our mind, we have to see ourselves raising the trophy, accepting the prize money, being congratulated for a great win, etc, etc. We have to embrace positive thinking as if it is the only option.

The mind can be our worst enemy or our best friend. It is completely up to us. We always have a choice. You see, above the mind is the intelligence and above that is consciousness. So, we do have power over the mind if we choose to use it.

Start to see your mind as another very important tool to help you play better. Don't let it dictate to you by allowing negative thoughts to consume your energy. Believe in the best possible outcome and tell it what you want it to do. Use your intelligence and your free will to direct your mind to positive thoughts of success, confidence and empowerment.

Never underestimate the importance of controlling your mind in every aspect of your life. How we relate to pool, our game and the outcome can easily be correlated to our daily life.

When you understand the power of the mind to positively impact your physical experience, and know that YOU actually have the power to direct it, you align yourself with all the greatest thinkers, artists and sports people in the world. Every single one of them had or has good mind control.

Okay, so you agree with me. You have probably heard or read about some of these things before. So how do you actually do it?

The first thing is to start paying attention. Start observing how your mind is reacting to things that happen to you when playing. Like a detached observer, start listening to what your mind's current response is. Make a concerted effort to separate yourself from what the mind is saying and you as the “observer”. Listen to the self- talk you have created then slowly start correcting it. The good news is that the mind can always be trained, no matter how old your physical body is! Don’t be discouraged with your technique at this point; we will discuss improvements at a later time. For now, good mind control will enable you to make better choices.

The best way to correct negative thinking (Some call it “Stinking Thinking”) is to replace it with “Success Thinking.” It is a generally accepted rule that one will always give up a lower taste if a higher taste is presented. Similarly, we have to start training our mind to think like a winner by speaking like a winner. By simply changing the way we perceive ourselves, we expect, and allow good things to happen.

A thought can be the seed of inspiration or discouragement. And sound can be the seed of creation or destruction. Every world war began with sound. And every great achievement began with someone voicing their dream to friends. Success has to be seen before it is realized.

When we think negatively, we sprout seeds of discouragement, which are initially expressed as negative talk. This negative talk is like a seed of destruction and just keeps us struggling. However, when we think positively, we generate seeds of inspiration, which grow into expressions of success and spring forth seeds of encouragement and creation, leading to a happier life and more achievement.

The next time you play and you miss a shot, instead of saying: “I am so useless. I always miss.” Say: “I may have missed this time, but I know I can get these shots.” Then slowly replace these positive excuses with positive affirmations like: “I always shoot straight; I am a great shot make; I know how to run-out; I am a winner; I was born to win; and/or when I play pool, the balls always role in my favor.”

In this way, you will start to make your mind your best friend. Instead of the mind reacting negatively to a challenging situation, it will start to react positively and give you the power to execute a perfect solution.

Just like any part of the body, we also need to feed and exercise the mind. Success talk is one effective way to do that. However, for it to be truly effective, you must first understand that the mind is not you. It is another tool that you can use to help you or hurt you. It can be your friend or your enemy. It’s your choice. Just a like a knife – in the hands of a criminal it can be dangerous, but that same knife in the hands of a trained surgeon can save a life! So the knife is neither good nor bad. It is how we use it. The same goes for the mind. Make it your friend from now on and start playing better pool!

(c) 2007 The Billiards Training Company